This year I've decided to sketch many of The Great Holy Men and Women of the Church. Come along with me on this journey as we get to know our elder brothers and sisters in faith.

"And therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head, laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us," Heb 12:1

John the Merciful

November 13

John the Merciful

[Greek: Ιωάννης ο Ελεήμων, Yiannis Eleimon] (c. 552-620) was the Pope of Alexandria in the early 7th century (from 606 to 616) and the fifth Alexandrian Pope to take the name of John. He was born to a noble Coptic (Egyptian) family, that governed the island of Cyprus. He abandoned his birthright of Governorship and took about monastic life in the Sinai. After being elected as Pope of Alexandria, he launched a massive campaign of charity. He assigned his bishops to compile a list of every impoverished person in the whole of East Africa, and insured food and shelter for each one. He built hundreds of hospitals, and dozens of orphanages and brought them all under the care of the church.